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Submitted by rightOn on Sun, 2008-01-06 00:42

Hello everyone,
I am a shiny new knitter here, still in my first few days of knitting. Actually I am still trying to mastering my "cast on", it gets better every time! I have always been interested in crafts and DIY type projects but never really considered knitting until recently when my daughter took an interest. So for the last few days knitting has been the buzz around here. She latched on and has started in on her first scarf, with hopes of making bigger and better things in the future (watch etsy.com, she will be there soon!). I on the other hand am taking a little longer to get going. Not discouraged, just taking it a little slower. So my question for anyone who cares to answer is this: once you decided to start knitting, how long was it before you were seeing any kind of positive result? By positive I mean you were knowing enough about what you were doing that you could make something complete and useful. Thanks to all of you who have taken the time to create this site and to everyone who is contributing to it, really inspiring to me to keep going and make something great!

Comments

The trick is to finish a real project from start to finish, and after that, you'll be hooked. It's also good to learn how to fix mistakes and even start over if you need to. Everything doesn't always need to be perfect at the beginning, either! Things that seemed difficult at first I do without thinking now, and there's always more to learn. It's cool that you're learning with someone and that it's your daughter. Good Luck!

I agree with trpc. Once I completed a project was when I felt I was actually knitting, even though my first was a very simple project. As far as advice for said first project I say go with what you would actually like to be your first project (within reason of course). Many would argue that a garter stitch scarf will get you nowhere but I started with just that and while it didn't teach me anything in the way of stitches or miscellaneous techniques it did have it's merits. I learned how to cast on evenly, how to control my stitch tension, etc. in a relatively short time and had a scarf to boot. It's really just a matter of opinion, personally if you know how to cast on, knit and purl, you're pretty much knitting in my book. Some new knitters like to dive in the deep end while others would rather test the waters. Each has it's own appeal. Nonetheless, welcome and if you have questions along your way (I can speak from experience), this is the place to ask them.

I think I started my first 'real' project about a month in. Before that I had been doing all sorts of swatches using knits and purls. For my first project I did a bathroom rug...figured there'd be enough mistakes that I wouldn't mind walking on it. Man, was I ever right!! I used a King Charles pattern that was (I think) 12 rows long. And I think I cast on something like 100+ stitches. Now that may seem like a lot of knitting for a newbie (and it was!) but it had the advantage that I got LOTS of practice and knitting and purling. I learned how to un-knit stitches to get back to a mistake and fix it. There were lots of dropped sts that caused me to reach for the crochet hook, and I learned how to read/work from a pattern as opposed to something that was all the same.

I wouldn't show that rug to anyone, but I still enjoy the feel of it under my feet on a cold morning. And I enjoy looking at it and saying "I made that".